Cache.get() and the usage of generics

[Per Wiklander]

I'm wondering what the param clazz is needed for in the following method, found in the Cache class.

    /**
     * Convenient clazz to get a value a class type;
     * @param <T> The needed type
     * @param key The element key
     * @param clazz The type class
     * @return The element value or null
     */
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public static <T> T get(String key, Class<T> clazz) {
        return (T) cacheImpl.get(key);
    }

AFAIK clazz isn't doing anything here. The return type is derived from the type of the variable in the calling context, as in:

Foo foo = cache.get("key")

The first <T> would set the type of T to Foo. Then we happen to require a second param containing a Class instance of type Class<Foo>, but I don't think that is needed at all for the requested functionality (to return the cached object with the correct type and avoid casting).